"Booyah!!" is exclaimed by the announcer after Kenny Fuller wins the 2010 Criterium National Masters Championship in 60 to 64. The famous announcer that treats the Masters cyclists like rock stars at the championships knows Kenny Fuller very well. He has said his name thousands of times over the years. Kenny has been racing for 49 years. This year the Masters Championships have come back to Louisville, Kentucky for the third and last time. The racing started on August 3rd with the time trial. Kenny Fuller won that with a good showing by Ken Louder. KF then won the road race in a much closer than anticipated contest. Kenny pulled it out in the end with a good finish over local favorite Brad Swope. Brad just aged up this year and his father is a well known car dealer around the area. Since Brad just turned 60, I kind of doubt the "old man" is still closing deals on the lot but his name Sam Swope is still in lights.
The last day of the championships was the 8th and the 60- 64 criterium was to be held starting at 11:45 am and running until the leaders did 35 kilometers or 35 laps of the local course in Jeffersonville, Indiana on the Ohio River. Jeffersonville is right across the river from Louisville and a change over the unpopular Churchill Downs course. The new course is a 4 corner rectangle with a number of very rough spots. USA Cycling should have done a better job seeing that the course was in better shape. I saw the City Manager on Friday the 6th on the course and I complained about some of the spots and he brought some people out to look at one bad area and they talked about fixing the spots but the races were to start the next day so I guess there wasn't enough time to fix the problems. If USA Cycling had put some pressure on the city, I am pretty sure they could have taken care of some of the bad areas.
26 racers from around the country signed up to do this category but only 18 showed up. The 18 riders
were off close to the selected start time and the pace was brisk. Ken Louder was determined to make it hard and weed out the weaker foe. A number of riders helped out but KL was the one that always raised the pace. Sometimes to 29 to 30 mph. Lined everyone out. There were a few moves but nothing substantial. Kenny Fuller was happy to just sit in the back and wait for the right time to strike. After about 8 laps Kenny went over the wrong part of the road pictured above and his magnet starting clicking against his transmitter. He tried to reach down and fix it but knocked the unit down the fork. He went into t
he Shimano pit because the unit was knocking against the spokes. The USA Cycling rep in the pit told Kenny he couldn't have a free lap so he had to get going again with the condition unresolved. Kenny was now quite a ways off the back. He had to reach back and pull all that time trialing strength to catch back up. The first 10 laps were done in 25 mph so he would have to really pick it up. I had no idea that he was in trouble but John Elgart saw Kenny go into the pit and knew he was in trouble although he couldn't have known whether he was going to get a free lap or not. It took several laps but Kenny made it back on. He sat in and used a couple of laps in the pack to recover. 15 or so laps had gone by and everyone was together except a few riders that had fallen off the pace.Kenny decided it was his turn to make a move and flew up the right side. Kenny made 2 solo moves but each time they were covered by some pretty strong riders. This was a strong field. Brad Swope was active in covering Kenny. The second time Kenny was covered Ken Louder counter
ed with a move of his own with 17 laps to go. Michael Krywanski out of Missouri and David Stevens of North Carolina went with him. I knew this was trouble. They weren't far ahead but were a magnet for Kenny Fuller to jump to. I was up near the front patrolling but not at the front. I had ridden a smart race so far and stayed near the front or the middle of the pack and never took a pull at the front. Stayed within myself. I had let the first break get away from me and I now saw Kenny make his move on the right with John Elgart right on his wheel. I had riders all around me and only one made a move and that was Brad Swope. I was still boxed in and saw Kenny fly away with 2 riders in his wake. I think I could ride Kenny's wheel but I couldn't come across a gap when he was charging away. I knew almost immediately that 6 places were gone.Kenny guided his group forward with Brad taking a pull now and then but Elgart just sitting in. It wasn't long before it was 6 together. I had a group of 6 but with Louder and Fuller ahead and clearly the strongest riders I was doomed. I had hoped for a podium spot which is top 5 and had a good chance in 2007 and 2008 and thought I was one of the strongest and fastest riders then but the race didn't play out well for me and I ended up 6th both those years. I
may not have been one of the 6 strongest riders this year but if I played my cards right I could have been there at the end but it wasn't to be in 2010.Kenny kept attacking his group and was always covered but shed David Stevens late in the race. With 5 to go Kenny figured it was going to be a bunchie and sat in to save his strength for the end. My group of six stayed together until 2 to go and David Linden went off the front. He said he wasn't trying to get away but was gaped off. I wasn't sure what the point was to doing a solo for 7th place.
The final lap card came up and right at turn 2 the lead pack caught my group of 5 and shot by with Louder in the lead. Our group jumped on the back of their group but I wasn't going to do anything that might effect the final sprint for "the shirt". Half way down the back stretch Kenny decided to take things into his own hands. He was last wheel in his group and jumped. Brad Swope got on him and it was lined out going into turn 3. Kenny lead into this turn but Brad Swope decided to not wait until the last straightaway and jumped Kenny back on the inside and hit the last corner in the front. He actually got a little bit of a gap on Kenny and the group. Kenny put it into his biggest gear and tried to get on top of it and soon as he could to get max speed. Brad jumped out of the saddle but seemed to be in too small a gear and also looked like he was tiring. I will give you the call of the announcer. The vid below is good but blogspot is not excepting sound any more. To see the vid larger and with sound go to: https://rcpt.yous
endit.com/925042937/bc6db695ee994d9c67731b663859489e.The call by the announcer is good. "And on the front its Swope, Swope, no Swope falters and it going to be Kenny. It is! Fuller wins again. Kenny Fuller wins again! Make it 41 National Championships!! BOOYAH!!! WOW!" Nice call there. Swope held on for second with Elgart taking 3rd. Krywanski rolled in for 4th and Louder took 5th. Stevens was given 6th. 7th went to David Linden who was in front of the lead group and it looks like he is in front in the vid but he is one lap down. The motor ref should have neutralized him on the back stretch but he did stay in front of the leaders and didn't cause a problem but could have. Complete placings are below. There were a lot of Socal 55+, 60+, 65+ and 70+ and tandem riders at the 2010 Masters Natz but I believe that Kenny Fuller was the only one that got on the podium in an individual race. Natz moves to Bend, Orgeon next year. That's all for now folks! Train hard and race safe!
| Men - Open - Master - 60-64 | ||||||||
| Place | Points | Name | City, State | Time | License | Bib | Team | |
| 1 | 150 | Kenny Fuller | Corona Del Mar, CA | 53:23.4 | 46765 | 382 | Cycles Veloce | |
| 2 | 135 | Brad Swope | Louisville, KY | 53:23.6 | 47984 | 402 | Sonovelo/Fetzer Cycling Team | |
| 3 | 120 | John Elgart | Sacramento, CA | 53:23.8 | 45071 | 396 | Alto Velo Racing Club/Webcor/Al | |
| 4 | 105 | Michael Krywanski | Rockford, MI | 53:24.5 | 77307 | 386 | Priority Health Cycling Team | |
| 5 | 90 | Ken Louder | Salt Lake City, UT | 53:25.8 | 179491 | 375 | Velosport Racing | |
| 6 | 85 | David Stevens | Vilas, NC | 53:50.1 | 248476 | 371 | VeloProject.com | |
| 7 | 80 | David Linden | Beavercreek, OH | 54:48.4 | 190519 | 393 | Team Dayton Bicycling/Michelob | |
| 8 | 75 | Loren Simons | St Johns, MI | 54:48.5 | 47936 | 408 | Priority Health Cycling Team | |
| 9 | 70 | Charles Hetrick | Edmond, OK | 54:48.6 | 62551 | 388 | Oklahoma City Velo Club | |
| 10 | 65 | John McKee | Westminster, CA | 54:48.7 | 180386 | 409 | OCW/Paramount Racing/Paramount | |
| 11 | 60 | Charles South | Fort Wayne, IN | 54:48.8 | 33532 | 401 | Men Of Steel Racing LLC/Men of | |
| 12 | 55 | William Stone | Columbus, IN | 54:48.8 | 47749 | 404 | Indie Hops / Labor Cycling Team | |
| DNS | 0 | George Liolios | Munroe Falls, OH | 45603 | 361 | Summit Freewheelers | ||
| DNS | 0 | Harry (Jerry) Fondren | St Louis, MO | 195525 | 372 | Mesa Cycles Shop and Racing Tea | ||
| DNS | 0 | Bill Cole | Savannah, GA | 239860 | 373 | Savannah Wheelmen/OSP | ||
| DNS | 0 | Dan Meyer | Lake Elmo, MN | 117486 | 380 | Loon State Cyclists | ||
| DNS | 0 | Walter Lay | Louisville, KY | 20594 | 392 | Bike Clicks/Team Louisville Bic | ||
| DNF | 0 | Thomas Lobdell | Indianapolis, IN | 45607 | 1168 | Scarlet Fire/Verizon Wireless R | ||
| DNF | 0 | Robert Cattanach | Minneapois, MN | 180477 | 397 | St Paul Bicycle Racing Club/Bia | ||
| DNF | 0 | David Fishel | Indianapolis, IN | 58350 | 410 | MOB Squad (Motivated Over Bicyc | ||
| DNF | 0 | Robert Brust | Hutchinson, KS | 60610 | 398 | River City Racing Club | ||
| DNF | 0 | sam roberts | Tulsa, OK | 275927 | 418 | Tulsa Wheelmen | ||
| DNF | 0 | Randall Maddox | Greenville, SC | 81544 | 383 | Greenville Spinners Bicycle Clu | ||
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